1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a multi-stage submission process, and more particularly to a multi-stage, multi-user engagement submission and tracking process.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the computer industry, many features have been developed and used to simplify and standardize the way a computer user completes a set of tasks. One such feature, commonly referred to as a “wizard”, provides a user with a step-by-step process for correctly and accurately completing a desired task or set of tasks. Wizards allow a single user during a single session to systematically follow a step-by-step process whereby the user provides or submits information, for example, via a series of sequentially displayed windows or graphical user interfaces (GUIs), to complete the desired task. The GUIs are organized in a pre-defined order so that the user can easily proceed through the process without any prior training on how to use the wizard and will be notified when the process is completed.
Many word processing programs, such as Word from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., include wizards, for example, a letter wizard, for providing the user with a step-by-step process of creating and formatting a letter. As an example, the letter wizard might prompt the user for the recipient's name, the recipient's address, the style of the letter, the type of salutation, and so on. Once the user has input the requested information, the letter wizard creates a letter according to the user's input. At any time, the user may exit the letter wizard, and based on the information provided up to that point, a letter will be created. For example, if the user does not have the recipient's address, the user may choose to exit the letter wizard without that information, and a letter will be created without the recipient's address inserted into the letter. Once the user exits the letter wizard, the user is unable to restart the letter wizard for that particular letter and will be required to manually input the omitted information, for example, the recipient's address. Without the use of a letter wizard, the user will have to create and format the entire letter from scratch, which is time consuming and error prone.
Other types of wizards allow the user to move through a series of GUIs, each of which requires the user to input information before proceeding to the next GUI. For example, after the user inputs the information required for the first GUI, the user inputs the information required for the second GUI, and so on, until the user is notified that the process is complete. Hence, these types of wizards ensure that all the required information has been input by the user before the desired task is completed. Often, the user may not know or may not have the requested information for input into a particular GUI. In these situations, the user is unable to proceed to the next GUI and is also unable to save the currently input information. Therefore, the user may have to exit the wizard, losing all the information that has been input, and start the entire submission process over at a later time, once the requested information becomes available.
As an example, a credit card company may use a wizard for allowing applicants to apply for a credit card. This ensures that an applicant has input all the information needed by the credit card company for processing the credit card application. Without the wizard, the credit card company may be required to contact the applicant to request missing information, thus delaying the processing of the credit card application. Hence, wizards can save companies, for example, the credit card company, a significant amount of time and resources.